Edward visits Victoria

Apart from the Commonwealth Games, HRH The Earl of Wessex made a visit to the township of Anakie in Victoria to visit victims of the recent bush fires.

HRH Prince Edward visited the town of Anakie to the great delight of the local residents.  Many royalists turned out to met him.  The town was ravaged by bush fires in January.  Prince Edward met 40 of the firefighters that had fought to control the fires.  He also spend time among the people that had gathered, speaking to many who had lost their homes and propery in the blaze.Edward was also shown around Anakie's Country Fire Authority (CFA) hall, where the prince was shown maps detailing the fire's spread.

The Earl was also presented with a  CFA "trauma teddy" - a toy bear dressed in a firefighter's uniform that is usually given to children who experience loss through bushfire.The visit was over within 40 minutes, and local shopworker Susie Warden, 41, said it had helped to restore the town's "buzz  Mrs Warden marked the visit by wearing a classic tiara." I borrowed it from my daughter, it's priceless now," she said."I just think when he got out of the car and came over to us commoners that was the best. That made him a real person rather than being royalty."

She described the time of the bushfires as one of "scared, devastation, and people didn't know whether their house was gone".The Anakie bushfires burnt out 6,700 hectares of bush and pasture and razed three houses.A hall was also destroyed and two other homes were damaged beyond repair.It took the combined efforts of about 2,000 firefighters and emergency workers to quell the blaze.

THE small community that rallied in a fight to save the township of Anakie from bushfire gathered again yesterday for a royal visit in its honour.

Prince Edward visited Anakie, near Geelong, to pay tribute to the work of the CFA volunteers and locals who saved the township from destruction in January.

About 200 people waved flags and cheered as the Prince arrived in a CFA vehicle. Among them was a woman wearing a plastic tiara and an elderly gentleman carrying an old and treasured Union Jack.

One local, 89-year-old Joan Faull, was thrilled when Prince Edward picked her out from the crowd to have a chat.

"I am very pleased to have met him," she said.

"It is a great honour."

The Prince mingled briefly with the crowd before enjoying afternoon tea with about 60 volunteer firefighters in the local brigade shed.

He was shown maps detailing the fire's spread and was also given a "trauma teddy" -- a toy bear dressed in a

firefighter's uniform that is usually given to children who experience loss through bushfire.

"I am no longer in trauma," the Prince joked.

He failed to notice a koala that gazed down on him from a gum tree.

The township of Anakie came under threat from firestorms sweeping through the Brisbane Ranges National Park from January 20 to 27.

The blaze destroyed three houses, made another two homes uninhabitable, took the lives of 858 sheep and 25 beef cattle and burned 6708ha of bush but was halted by firefighters and rain before it stormed the town.

"It is a great boost for the whole community to have the Prince honour us in this way," said CFA captain David Gillett.

Shopworker Susie Warden, 41, said the visit had helped to restore the town's buzz.

Ms Warden marked the visit by wearing a classic tiara.

"I borrowed it from my daughter," she said.

"It's priceless now.

"I just think when he got out of the car and came over to us commoners that was the best. That made him a real person rather than being royalty."

One local yelled out to the Prince, the Queen's youngest child, that Anakie made the best hedgehog slice in Australia.

A CFA volunteer later presented the Prince with a hedgehog slice of his own to taste.

Prince Edward will present Duke of Edinburgh awards at Government House today. - with AAP